Fireteam Erebus
"Erebus, we have our orders. Now lets go out there and finish this fight!"- Spartan-007 (Sev) Fireteam Erebus is a unit of SPARTAN IIs led by Antonio-007 (nicknamed Sev) and later acquired by the Office of Naval Intelligence Section 0. Before the acquisition the team worked as a SPEC-OPS unit undergoing many highly classified missions and assignments. Members Antonio-007; nicknamed Sev Joseph-004; nicknamed Ballistic Ezekiel-072; nicknamed Yūrei Salove-013; nicknamed Castle History When the SPARTAN II Program was started, Doctor Catherine Halsey interviewed the 75 Spartan candidates. Unknown to all was that ONI secretly inducted 8 extra Spartan candidates to augmentation with only a select trusted few witnessing the procedure; 4 of which would form Fireteam Erebus. They were taken to Serenity Base, Directed by Sebastian Hammond since 2510. Here they had been trained and disciplined for failing a training course via specialized shock collar and ranked against one another without knowing who they were properly against. Once these 4 Spartans were deemed healthy and fit for combat they were deployed among many separate units and squads to battle the Insurrectionists, coming back with pleasant remarks from their assigned groups. By the time the Human-Covenant War broke out these Spartans were noted as able to effectively work in small teams of Marines and ODST, but were unable to work with any other Spartan's due to the nature of their abduction needing to be kept secret; so they worked alone for the fist 4 years of the war receiving far better results then when they were partnered with others. This stopped in 2529 with the formation of Fireteam Erebus where these 4 Spartans took place in highly dangerous and highly classified missions. During the war the team was given a Human AI designated Maverick for use of the whole team and would often be sent into battle with Alpha 607 their designated Pelican and Lieutenant Carmine as the piolet while fighting Insurgents. While in combat the 4 seem to work seamlessly with each other unlike when they were partnered with other units and squads, and even preforming better then when they were working alone. Some notable missions being their assassination of high valued targets (HVT), involvement on the planet Dao KI5 where they quelled growing Covenant forces in hit-and-run style combat before being taken off world (this would latter be called Operation Decay), assisting other Fireteams, and while not well known their Operation: Hellhound in which they hunted down and silenced former ONI agents and possible New Insurrectionists. They took part in the battles on Dao KI5, and having fought alone as a team they eventually were able to get a Pelican and make it off planet. From there they were tasked with suppressing or eliminating any Covenant forces in major human systems. During one outing they were stranded aboard a Phantom until they were found. Once they were rescued they were contacted by Raptor-5, a Section 0 operative, to be informed that they were to now be handled by him and are officially under Section 0 command. With this the UNSC Harbinger (Raptor-5's personal Frigate) was sent to acquire Section 0's new assets via Pelican pickup. After this they were taken back to Earth for evaluation and suit upgrades where they would untimely witness the Prophet of Regret's invasion. Having been deployed along side an ODST squad, Erebus fought in the Battle of New Mombasa in a Search and Rescue mission to recover proper assets. They were later transferred around till they reached Voi I’m secret. Once the Flood landed the team were sent out to make sure it was not able to spread past the original ship's crash site. Unexpectedly Antonio would be captured and 'tortured' for information mentally by the Gravemind, initiating another rescue mission. Once they completed 007's retrival they continued fighting until they were pulled out during it's glassing and was sent to the newly formed Azuno Colony to aid in the fight there. Once done they were extracted and taken back to proper UNSC space. Erebus then made it back to Earth where they did covert and classified mission for ONI Section 0 for further notice. Now with Erebus under their thumb they are sent out to neutralize former ONI Operatives and possible new Insurrectionist cells across UNSC controlled space. After they finished this mission they were stationed aboard the UNSC Harbinger for their next task on an Outer Colony that had went dark after a reported Forerunner artifact had been discovered and opened. All current missions after the Unity Colony operations are unknown or classified as of this moment. Major Missions This is a list of all known mission Fireteam Erebus has been on, and their objectives within the Operation. First Nameless Mission (2529) This was a test by Hammond. It was to allow the team to form and work together as one now that they were formed. Namless Missions (Late 2529-2550) The team partook in many non-major or classified missions between this time period; they would be paired now and then with Nyx and encounter other Spartans along the way. Dao KI5 Initial Recon (Early 2533- Late 2533) In between the classified and nameless missions from '29-'50, the team were sent to Dao KI5 to survey the Covenant forces present. The initial recon would bring to light a slowly growing Covenant occupation force led by a then unidentified Zealot; it was believed at the time they simply were making a supply depot on the planet, but with more recon and investigation it would be revealed in the late '50s that they were searching for Forerunner artifacts. But in the present time of the first incursion on Dao KI5, Fireteam Erebus would find themselves stranded for several months until successfully evacing aboard a commandeered Phantom. They would drift for a few days until Raptor-5 came along and gave them the acquisition orders from Section 0. It was here that Joseph-004 would receive three cuts across his left eye, which would become infected and replaced by a robotic prosthetic after the move to Section 0. Operation Decay (August 30, 2550- August 30, 2552) When Erebus was at its peak they would go on to what would be known as Operation Decay before and during The Fall of Reach. They would fight against a now identified Zealot, Kus 'Munamal, and his forces that were setting up camps and bringing in more troops along UNSC Space starting at Dao KI5, returning after a few years finally to finish what they're recon started. The team would be sent in to destroy these encampments and then are pulled out as soon as they accomplished their goal. This would start a feud with the Zealot would lead to Antonio loosing an arm and the death of Akira Hideyoshi. On occasion they ran into trouble when Sangheili Generals or Jiralhanae Chieftains were present with the team suffering minor injuries and needing suit repairs after the extraction was successful. For the next two months and few days after they would be stationed on Earth receiving medical care, suit upgrades, and repairs. They would also receive the experimental sixth generation AI Maverick. Invasion of Earth and New Mombasa (October 20, 2552-November 17, 2552) While Erebus was on Earth being evaluated and reequipped the Invasion of Earth took place. Having been deployed to the ground. They started with the simple objective of holding off Covenant ground forces before being sent to New Mombasa to extract Raptor-5, who had been compromised at his facility by numerous Covenant forces. Upon retrieving him they escorted a wounded Raptor-5 through the city till they held up in an old sports shop and fought off waves of Covenant forces for the next three days (Oct. 23). Afterwards they are sent to Voi under the command of Admiral Hood and Commander Keys (once Sev relinquished command to her for the purpose of the mission that is). Here they would help fight off Covenant and eventually the Flood where Antonio-007 would be captured and tortured having lasting effects on him; but Erebus was able to save him. When they extracted they were able to witness the city being glassed. Later on, while still under the command of Miranda Keys, the team were sent through the portal to the Ark aboard the then unfinished, prototype Tides of Fortune ''to test out the stealth drives with the now allied Zur 'Vulcam. They successfully traversed the portal and engaged the ship's cloak function at low levels and only engaged when necessary. Erebus would be sent to the Ark's surface for ONI until the Flood arrived. At this point Sev was having difficulty with fighting the Gravemind from his head, but went on nonetheless. While the Chief, Arbiter, N'tho 'Sraom, and Usze 'Taham went to High Charity to retrieve Cortana and immediately proceeded onto the Raid on Installation-08, Erebus was extracted and would witness the destruction of Ring being destroyed and the Ark being damaged. They would then stand at a distance to the memorial to the war, joined by Zur 'Vulcam who would follow Thel 'Vadam and eventually join Antonio-007 aboard the Tides of Fortune as a joint Shipmaster. Azuno Colony (January 2, 2555) With this colony having gone dark after the threat of a rebellion Erebus was sent in to gather intel from an imbedded ONI operative along with the now formed Pantheon squad fireteams. Upon arrival they found riots and chaos on the streets, and the ONI operative hung up on a pole dead for all to see. After quilling the rebellion and aiding in the installation of a new government they left with another completed mission after 1 week (January 9) Operation Hellhound (January 12, 2555) Once they finished on Azuno the team had started small kill orders for Section 0. Dubbed Hellhound for them being the proverbial guards to the gates of their target’s death, the team would eventually be tasked with killing then 62 year old war criminal and traitor Sebastian Hammond which they gladly did on January 16th. The Campaign for Earus (May 20, 2555- August 7, 2556) This was a major conflict on the colony of Earus against a post-Covenant faction named The Galactic Pact, led by their former enemy Kus 'Munamal. This faction holds nearly all known species as an equal-opportunity faction looking to cause conflict and war. The first operation, Fallen Star, took place five weeks after Erebus' initial insertion (June 24); it involved taking out the Pact's ships, mainly targeting their retrofitted CSO-class Supercarrier ''Deliv''erance. The operation with the team contacting the local resistance to aid them in a distraction run to a ship, upon boarding Erebus and a team of ODSTs, the Wolf Pack, infiltrate the Pact's blockade and jumped ship onto an old Phantom leaving their previous troop carrier holding a bomb sent directly toward the ''Deliverance. During this Nyx and Hemera were on the ground aiding in the fight with the colonists. While the bomb found it's target successfully it did not do enough damage to destroy the Supercarrier. However they were able to put it out of the fight for an unknown amount of time giving them and the Resistance time to make small gorilla tactic strikes and combat runs for supplies. Operation Rook would then take place 2 weeks after the strategic success (July 8), but ultimate mission failure of Fallen Star. This operation was meant to retake the main capital of the colony and set up a proper base for the Resistance, Pantheon Squad, and Wolf Pack. The ODSTs start the initial strike followed by the Resistance fighters along with Nyx and Hemera, and Erebus storming the main building of the capital. After facing heavy resistance and losing many Resistance fighters and 3 ODSTs they successfully repelled the Pact's forces and reclaimed the colonies capital. After they successfully completed Rook, they held up in the city taking it back street by street until they had a majority of the colony back under Resistance control. It was around this time (April 15, 2556) Kus 'Munamal personally led a group of spec-ops Sangheili and captured the Resistance's leader, former Earus colony leader Nancy Ekiert and took her back to the Deliverance. Erebus would have to preform a single man infiltration, once inside the Supercarrier the lone rescuer must preform a search and rescue to retrieve Nancy and return her safely to Earus' capital. Opting to send in Ezekiel, the rest of the Spartans and ODSTs commenced a pincer attack with them on one side of a major camp under the Supercarrier and the Resistance on the other. Once the battle began Ezekiel used a gravity lift that was sending supplies back and fourth between the colony and the Supercarrier and began his search. After finding her in the prison block they nearly successfully escaped with Ezekiel suffering from a plasma shot to the leg while his shields were down. With enough time in-between operations for Ezekiel to heal (May 6), Pantheon Squad and Wolf Pack received their next directive: Infiltrate the Supercarrier and kill Kus 'Munamal. The squad had gathered the Resistance fighters and led an all out attack on the main camp of The Galactic Pact, combating infantry, ground vehicles, and air units until they reached the gravity lift. Sev ordered all other units to stay behind and along with Erebus proceeded up to the ship. Surprisingly as reported by the team they met no major resistance and upon reaching the command deck found Kus 'Munamal waiting alone. He challenged Antonio to a dual providing him with a Type 1 Energy Weapon. In the course of the dual 'Munamal was injured by the Spartan, having his right mandibles cut off before he activated a emergency gravity shut down and vented the Spartans out to the planet's atmosphere. They survived the impact of planet fall and watched as the blockade fled the system. Without their main support it only took about four months (August 7) for the remaining ground forces to be eliminated. Once all the Galactic Pact forces were either killed or captured the major colony of Earus was liberated and J-559 (the planet it is situated on) underwent increased and major colonization and industrialization. Temporary Disbandment and Reformation Being Disbanded After Earus the team would be disbanded for a time; this would effectively split up Pantheon Squad as a whole. Antonio-007 would stay aboard a ship provided by the Swords of Sanghelios while the Tides of Fortune was 'docked for repairs' to hide it's activity as he aided Zur 'Vulcam on their missions (which is where he would receive his Helioskrill armor), Joseph-004 would be stationed aboard the UNSC Infinity to aid in training SPARTAN-IVs and be jumped to the GEN2 iteration of his Mark 6 MJOLNIR Armor, Ezekiel-072 would be sent to various places within Section 3 of ONI to recive upgrades to his sword and new armor, Salove-013 would be put on shore leave travel to Earth where he could see the homeworld of Humanity properly (without being shot at). The reason for the sudden split was due to a rouge ONI agent attempting to compromise their operations and ship, so to protect the team and their fellow Spartan-IIs Serin Osman separated them for the remainder of the year until the rat could be found by Fireteams Hemera and Geras. The conflict would stabilize after chasing down the rat to an old space station in an asteroid belt where, with the revealed and reformed Outer Colonies Republic led by none other then Orville Taylor's granddaughter and the daughter of Sebastian Hammond: Spartan-IV Nicole Hammond. Having been discovered the woman attempted to flee but was caught and imprisoned at Midnight Facility. Once Nicole was locked away the year had ended, and a colony on the fringed of UNSC Space went dark, prompting Osman to reform Erebus and send them in to investigate Unity. Unity (January 17-31, 2557) Once the AI on the colony Unity stopped reporting in, Raptor-5 dispatched Erebus to see the problem and fix whatever was wrong. What no one was expecting was for the Spartans to find the world being taken over by the Flood. Having been inadvertently released by the populace of the colony the parasite was able to quickly spread thanks to the indigenous life of the planet. Once Erebus reported their findings marked the beginning or Operation Outbreak. The teams primary directive was to recover the colony AI, and then confirm any survivors status as healthy and uninfected. Once they made it to the colony and found the AI core they had to report that they were to late, and that the AI had strangely fallen into a deep state of rampancy. With this news they were given a follow-up mission: wipe the AI core and destroy the colony via it's nuclear fusion reactor. Operation Cleanup was underway when the Spartans found a group of survivors. With orders to protect any and all colony personnel they proceeded with their mission of detonating the colonies separate reactors in the 5 separate zones, With all previous goals accomplished they destroyed the colony, and ONI sent in mass incineration of the planet via orbital bombardment by the UNSC fleet Scourge. The system was quarantined and cut off with no one allowed in and now one allowed out. One of the assets acquired from the colony, Taylor Cruz, was inducted into ONI as an operative and would be working with Erebus in the future. 'Aiding' the Shield of Humanity (2558) After Blue team went MIA going to the outer colony of Meridian Osiris was sent to bring them back. However ONI had separate ideas. At this point Blue Team and Fireteam Erebus had had separate non-mission related run-ins with one another and could never find out what Erebus was dying to know: who would win in a fight. ONI, in all their secretive wisdom, had passed on the information to not just Osiris but also Erebus. With the pretense of 'aid as possible' being the story given to Osiris and any who asked about the teams work, and the real individual goal of 'beat both the other teams and prove we're the best'. However the team would have a heavy weight on their minds and hearts as Maverick had come to his expiration date: 20 years of service with aid and AI equivalents to treatments. To make this work Erebus was to shadow Osiris in secret; wherever they went, whatever they did, Erebus would be watching till Jameson Locke's team led them straight to Blue Team. Once they did it was under the Meridian colony separating them from their shadow op as they all activated a prototype cloak-drone to mass cloak the squad and enter through the portal after Blue Team. Once the team arrived on Genesis they found themselves separated from their targets. Stranded on the artificial planet the team wondered around till they stumbled across the remains of Jul 'Mdama's stranded Covenant ransacking a mostly intact Pelican Dropship. After eliminating the enemy the team hotwired what they could to get the ship up and flying again. This lasted for only enough time to crash land them outside of a strange structure where they would find a Forerunner technology cache that allowed them to aid in keeping Maverick alive. Once they exited the building they got into a firefight with one of the Warden Eternal's bodies and some Promethean forces including Knights, Soldiers, Crawlers, and Watchers of various ranks. The team would hold their ground and eventually be able to slip away as Osiris arrived and took the interest of the Warden Eternal that he deployed a second body to aid him. With the team now out of combat they took a moment to rest as Maverick assimilated with the new technology. For a brief moment the advanced AI was almost lost in the sea of data and call from Cortana to join her Created, but Maverick was able to successfully push her and the data back and restore himself now with a much larger lifespan. The team would tread carefully and pick off any stragglers they could while still searching for Blue Team until after hours from their initial arrival multiple Guardians arrived and started leaving, one attempting to do so while holding a Cryptum. With Osiris stopping the Guardians Erebus was able to hop aboard a downed Pelican in a much better state than their previous one. With it they traveled off world and signaled for the Tides of Fortune which had been avoiding any and all Guardians with it's stealth capabilities. They were rescued from drifting and, along with the rest of Pantheon Squad, now are stationed aboard the UNSC Infinity while Zur used the Tides to go dark as to not risk the ship after receiving a last minute encrypted message from ONI before Earth went dark. Captain Lasky, using the predetermined stop times set up by Veronica Dare, was able to retrieve the Spartans onboard. The teams would go their separate ways for the time being aboard the massive ship, Antonio-007 would even attend the wedding of Captain Veronica Dare and Spartan Edward Buck congratulating the two with a gift of chocolates. Roles Each member has a specific role they follow in the Fireteam, although they can easily fill in for one another should the need arise. Sev Sev was given the role of Team Leader after showing exemplary field awareness and leadership skills. He is considered the most volatile and dangerous in combat preferring to use fear tactics and cause as much pain to the designated enemy as possible. Yūrei Fittingly named the Japanese word for Ghost, Yūrei is the teams reconnaissance specialist, marksmen, and infiltration specialist. Having been formerly a member of Fireteam Nyx (as a temporary fill-in member) he was trained specifically for his role. Yūrei has an affection toward bladed weapons and carries a Katana across his back into combat as well as a specially designed kukri with a incorporated holster in his armor at the boot/shin area. Ballistic The explosives and heavy weapons expert. Ballistic always has a good day as long as he can make something blow up; he also is considered the de facto second in command for Erebus. Castle As the "Tank" of the group, Castle is the big dog who takes and withstands the brunt of heavy fire, and dishes it back out equally on the enemy. Not afraid to get his hands dirty, he is also known for his torture and interrogation techniques for enemy intel. ONI Section 0 Acquisition Once Erebus had been noticed by Raptor-5 sometime between 2530 and 2533 due to him uncovering their service record he had been working in the shadows to find a way to make them part of Section 0's control. When he finally succeeded in this goal in the end of 2533 (July 31st) he unexpectedly was appointed as their handler. Since then they have worked well in tandem with each other and have even grown to respect one another. It should be noted that the team did not know that Raptor-5 was actively trying to gain the team for Section 0 and himself to bluster his position. While in Section 0 if the team was not fighting Covenant they were tasked with hunting down and eliminating special targets, specifically dealing in the internal affairs clean up of 0s description. One such person would be Sebastian Hammond himself at Serenity Base. Tides of Fortune After the official Human-Covenant War's end in 2553 a joint manufactured ship was started by Human-Sangheili engineers, at least by public record. In truth it was started in as early as 2550 using ONI Sangheili prisoners and Covenant wreckage to make the ship; once the war ended the prisoners were 'dealt with' and legitimate contracted Sangheili were brought onto the scene. This ship would be an experimental class, dubbed a 'Scythe' class war vessel, Taking the base chaises of the Charon-class light frigate, removing the frontal part in favor of a design similar to the Shadow of Intents rounder front, and adding new primary weapons moving the human weapons to secondary made this ship the first and so far only type of its make and design. With the Sangheili design and weapons also comes better shielding and an active camouflage function for use of quicker and stealthier missions and proper defenses should the need arise. Sebastian Hammond Sebastian Hammond was the Director of the Serenity space station, and with such a position came High interactions with Erebus. In the early years, he had each member outfitted with a specialized shock collar that would be remotely triggered by him via wrist pad. This was a ‘discipline‘ he used along with the psychological condintoning of ranking the four. Each member to this day has some marks left from their collars; with how he treated them it’s no surprise they came to hate him. When they learned he was dubbed a traitor and a war criminal they had no problems with taking the mission of hunting him down. Going back to Serenity Base in early 2555 after Azuno Colony, the team fought through his security all the way to his office, where the man himself simply was siting overlooking the training floor as he always did while the four were still in the basics of Spartan-hood. After a brief exchange the four all opened fire, desecrating his corpse and killing him instantly without stopping until their clips were empty. Maverick While not completely strangers to the concept of an AI, Maverick was the teams first introduction to the advanced technology. He is an experimental sixth generation Human Smart AI, the first and only of his kind so far, allowing him a longer lifespan and higher processing capabilities as seen through his ability to monitor over all of the team's vital functions (i.e. armor, vitals, ammo, etc...) and the fact he went into service and was made in 2538. On top of this, he has the experimental ability to "jump" from his main chip (held by Sev) to copy chips that other members have in their helmets. This effectively allows him to instantly transfer between Erebus Squad members in an instant to assist as needed. Pantheon Squad Sometime in 2555 the teams of Erebus (Antonio-007, Joseph-004, Ezekiel-072, and Salove-013), Nyx (Lucy-142, Lance-135, Shiv-127, Diego-024), and Hemera (Peggy Porter, Gary Massey, Lucas Erickson, Roland Donald) joined forces and formed the Pantheon Squad. This squad is currently last seen stationed aboard the Tide of Fortune where they get their missions and train through the onboard ship wargames and warzones simulator room. Signals Often times the team would employ signals to one another as all Spartans did. However due to not learning of Olly Olly Oxen Free from Déjà as the other IIs did, they had to develop signals of their own. These signals would include: Light Flashes Erebus members will occasionally flash lights on each others HUD or from their helmets to one another; one flash for advance, two for hold, three for all clear, four for split up and flank. Comm Clicks The Spartans would use interference in their comms to make 'clicks'. These clicks then would be used for mores code Code Words Various code words are used in all of Pantheon Squad: Freefall, Flambé, Excavate are some examples Veni, Vidi, Vici This was the first code used by Erebus. In context they use the words exactly as translated: upon the saying of Veni the team will move forward to their objective; upon the saying of Vidi the team will survey the area and make sure no hostiles are present or on approach; upon the saying of Vici, if there are any, the team will proceed to 'conquer' or eliminate the enemy. Trivia * Yūrei is jokingly nicknamed Kamikaze by fellow Erebus team mates due to his horrid driving which typically ends up with the vehicle upside-down, wrecked miserably, stuck in a ditch/tree/on a rock/etc... * Ballistic has one eye, having had his left eye removed after infection due to an animal clawing him, surprisingly this does not effect his work as a Spartan. After some time of stubbornness he got a replacement cybernetic * Castle is the youngest member of Fireteam Erebus * Sev has a deep respect for John-117 and Thel 'Vadam, the later having developed in witnessing him in combat before the Sangheili-Human Alliance * This Fireteam is based off a team that will/has appeared in the story Halo: Fireteam Erebus ''by Ash_The_Reaper and Yirei072 on their shared Wattpad: Sev being the embodyment of the Ash; and Yūrei, Ballistic, and Castle being based off friends and self in real life * Operation: Silent Dawn took place in 2554, and is the teams most secret operation as it was the first mission assigned by ONI to Erebus; it is also an original operation/story arc in the Wattpad story ''Halo: Fireteam Erebus * The name Erebus derives from the Greek myth of said person where the definition of Erebus states he is "the primeval god of darkness, son of Chaos" correlating with their duty as a secret unit made to cause chaos for enemies anyway they can * This team was a form of control group for Fireteam Nyx, all of which was orchestrated by Sebastian Hammond and approved of plus funded by ONI. The test was to keep the SPARTAN-IIs of Erebus completely secluded save for specific personal not including each other or any other Spartans. Nyx was the opposite where they were allowed free contact with any and all Spartans and personal. They would test out training and scenarios on Erebus for simulation then take the best possible results and see how Nyx would do. For example: Erebus was ranked against each other without knowing who else was on the leaderboard. This would increase aggression in the Spartans and make more competitive soldiers; on the other hand Nyx was treated all as equals with no ranking. This resulted in Erebus being comprised of better SPARTAN-IIs then most units as projected by Sebastian Hammond‘s hypotheses. Gallery Spartan-007.png|Antonio-007|link=https://erebusverse.fandom.com/wiki/Antonio-007_%28Sev%29 Spartan-004.png|Joseph-004|link=https://erebusverse.fandom.com/wiki/Joseph-004 Spartan-072.jpg|Ezekiel-072|link=https://erebusverse.fandom.com/wiki/Ezekiel-072 Salove-013.jpg|Salove-013|link=https://erebusverse.fandom.com/wiki/Salove-013 Category:AshTheReaper001 Category:Spartan-IIs Category:UNSC Units Category:SPARTAN Category:UNSC